READY TO TWIST

Lynnette Jalufka

Today’s the day you’re going to sit down and write that plot twist. Here’s six tips from literaryterms.net:

• Think of all likely outcomes for the story…and then throw them out!
• Develop obstacles that are seemingly impossible to overcome, and then think of a plausible solution that the audience won’t guess, but will understand and believe when it happens
• For a big shock, make it seem like there is only one possible outcome to the story—and then use your twist to completely surprise the audience
• For a surprising but less extreme twist, develop your story in a way that makes the audience totally unsure where it is going or what could happen, leaving it open to many possible outcomes.
• For a clever and thought-provoking twist, use small clues throughout the story that the audience may forget or only take small note of, and then bring back those clues in the twist
• You may choose to foreshadow your twist with either very subtle and hidden clues, or very noticeable and direct clues, depending on how close you want your audience to get to figuring it out.

As a mystery fan, I personally love it when the author leaves small clues and/or foreshadows the plot twist. It makes the book memorable.